Members of the St. Luke’s School Class of 2013, the girls in white and boys in maroon, toss their caps in front of the school entrance after the 84th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 31, at the New Canaan campus.
Each morning of their scholastic career on North Wilton Road, St. Luke’s School students are greeted by the message “Enter to learn, go forth to serve” above the school’s front doors.
The school celebrated its 84th commencement ceremony on Friday, May 31, where the Class of 2013 took its final steps as high school students and its first from St. Luke’s as high school graduates.
“Each of you has been reminded or prodded to do your best, and ultimately recognized and celebrated for reaching a little — or a lot — higher than you thought you could,” Mark Davis, the head of school, told the 71 graduating seniors, their families and teachers. “And each of you has been needed for the distinctive personal qualities you have brought to the school.
“At St. Luke’s, each of you has mattered in ways that will not be duplicated in college, or for that matter in any community that does not value the individual with the passion and understanding that we do. The faculty and I have loved watching you contribute, prosper and in many cases grow up before our eyes here on the Hilltop. We will also miss you terribly. These commencement exercises are a celebration of you.”
Student Council President Jackson Prince of New Canaan was selected by his classmates to deliver the student welcome. He took the podium and pointed out that “not one senior is out of dress code!”
He began his talk by questioning whether “commencement” was a misnomer, but concluded: “They didn’t get it wrong … this ceremony should absolutely be called commencement, because from this point forward, you will not look at life in segments — split up into young, middle-aged, and old — you will look at it in its entirety, taking into account that there are only 67.8521 years of opportunity. And in that sense, there is no other way to live than to the fullest. Do what makes you happy. Do that which makes other people happy. And never forget that every heartbeat is a divine privilege.”
Jackson graduated as a Global Scholar and will attend Middlebury College in the fall.
Salutatorian Alex Robertson, a Wilton resident, graduated cum laude and will attend Columbia University in the fall. In his address, he observed: “We should be active participants in our own educations, always searching for meaning and for learning, constantly struggling against the nothing we are so often predisposed to doing. Learning should be an active experience — something that pops up not only in the classroom, but also when you’re at home, reading or even simply staring out the window. Even the experiences that seem completely banal and vacant of meaning can yield stunning revelations if we focus our energies on them.
“Like so many of you, I may eventually forget some of the things I learned at St. Luke’s: Newton’s laws of motion, or the symbolism of ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ or the fundamental theorem of calculus. But what St. Luke’s has taught me is more than that — it has taught me that, no matter where I am or who I find myself with, real and meaningful learning is always possible.”
English teacher Frank Henson, a St. Luke’s alumnus, Class of ’74, parent to Jack ’11 and Eliot ’13, was selected by the seniors to deliver the Parent Address.
“As parents, we want you to be happy,” he said about love and work. “We want you to find a way to make a difference for yourselves and for the world. I’m talking about the love that is implied in the school’s motto. The love that should be the reason for service. I want to name it. I’m not afraid to say it: Love of your fellow human beings.
“For the next four years, and beyond, we want you to have the courage to do hard work. We want you to open your hearts to love. Find it through humility. Empathy. Acts of kindness. Be the first one to raise your hand for the crummy job, the hard job. Don’t ask how long it’ll take — ask when it needs to be done,” he said. “Dare to be smaller than the task in front of you. Don’t wait for someone else to pick up the shovel, to raise the pick. Love everyone. You can do it. I know you can. I know who you are. You’re good people. You’re already part of the way there — Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Love.”
The presentation of the diplomas was conducted by retiring board of trustee chairman Christine Seaver, Davis, Assistant Head of School Guy Bailey and Head of Upper School Jim Yavenditti.
Out of the 71 graduating seniors — that came to the school from 19 area towns — 41% had attended the school for all eight years, 14 graduated cum laude, and 100% are matriculating to college.
Valedictorian Patrick Quinn, a longtime Wilton resident who recently relocated to Bridgewater, thanked several teachers, including Susan Doran, “whose invigorating literary discussions have broadened our minds and whose compassion has helped us to better understand ourselves,” he said.
Patrick spoke of the profound influence of Michael Cunningham’s book, “The Hours,” which he first read in Doran’s AP English Literature class in 11th grade. He described how Clarissa, a main character in the book, had failed to recognize happiness in the moment. He urged his classmates to pause and reflect: “I want you to take a second to consider the full weight of this moment — the significance it has for us, the members of the Class of 2013. There is a magnificent sense of possibility in the air; can you feel it? Right now, we have more possibility than we’ll ever have, and we are lucky for it. This possibility is a unique resource, one which is malleable and mysterious and recyclable. I believe this possibility is inexhaustible — it may dwindle over time, but it will never completely run out. But this possibility is useless unless we act upon it. Instead of magically expecting it to turn into great things, we must seek great things out in ourselves, for we will find them if only we believe in the possibility.
“There are so many adventures to go on, people to meet, friends to make, places to discover, and things to learn, so let’s take this potential energy and turn it into kinetic energy. Let’s experience those experiences if only to enrich ourselves and our lives. All it takes is a little faith in the future and your own inspiration,” he said.
Patrick graduated cum laude and will be attending Haverford College.
Commencement included music by the St. Luke’s Chorale and Chorus members under the direction of Dale Griffa, music department chairman, and included the school’s alma mater, plus “You Raise Me Up,” senior song choice “Unwritten,” by Natasha Bettingfield, and “The Lord Bless You and Keep You,” the latter sung to the graduates by the underclassmen.
In his concluding remarks, Davis spoke to the graduates of their resilience and the school’s motto, “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.”
“This community has prepared you to be ethical, compassionate adults, and that will determine whether or not your impact on the world is lasting or fleeting, meaningful or superficial, good or perhaps not-so-good,” he said. “To make a difference, you need not be a CEO, or president of the student body, or captain of the team, or the smartest student in the classroom. You need simply be a good person, doing the things — small or large — that actually make a difference, in your neighborhood or on the world stage.”
Thomas Hecker and Tyler Gabriele, both New Canaan residents, join Janay Parrott and the SLS Chorale and Chorus in singing the alma mater.